Saturday's Waterfire will mark the bicentennial of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade with chain burnings, recitations and other reminders of Rhode Island's links to slavery. The event, called "A Thousand Ships," is meant to introduce Waterfire's crowds to the state's checkered history and commemorate the victims of the slave trade.
"People will come away with questions and learn a bit more about Rhode Island history," said Mary Tinti, assistant to Barnaby Evans '75, the Providence-based artist behind Waterfire.
The event will begin at 6:30 p.m., when 1,000 crowd members will participate in a mass "libation," pouring water from bottles into the river to mark the 1,000 slave ships that passed through Rhode Island. The observation will continue with a torchlit procession to significant downtown sights involved in the slave trade.
At 8 p.m., a paper chain wrapped around a triangle of trees in memorial park, the site of the old port, will be lit to represent the "triangle trade" that existed between Rhode Island, West Africa and the Caribbean. A thousand luminaria will be placed inside the triangle in memory of the victims of the trade, according Waterfire's Web site.
The event comes two years after Brown's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice released a report outlining the University's historic ties to slavery, including the use of slave labor in the construction of University Hall. Brown is a sponsor of the event.
A special libation in honor of the late Professor of Africana Studies and History Rhett Jones, a key member of the Slavery and Justice Committee who passed away in July, was meant to be included in the ceremony but has been delayed because Associate Professor of Africana Studies Anani Dzidzienyo - who was slated to pour the water for the event - is unable to attend on Saturday, Evans said.
The idea for "A Thousand Ships" came from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and will kick off its Freedom Festival, a series of events this month dedicated to remembering the legacy of slavery.
"They pointed out that very few communities were marking this important anniversary," Evans said. "We wanted to create an awareness about this."
As outlined in the Slavery and Justice Report, an estimated 60 percent of slave ships departing from North America left from Rhode Island's busy ports.
"If we can get 1 percent who come along to Waterfire to say, 'Huh, I didn't know Rhode Island was involved in slavery,' then it means we've done something," said Andrew Losowsky, one of the event organizers, in a Sept. 29 Associated Press article.
